That Never Happened
by all-in-time
Summary: A place for things that never happened in 'Merlin'. Sequels to Driftwood. Shamelessly short drabbles and plot bunnies running wild. Light and painless. Strange and AU. Merlin/Morgana, mostly.
1. Mosquito Net

A place for things that never happened in _Merlin_. Shamelessly short drabbles and plot bunnies running wild. Strange and AU.

Disclaimer: The characters are not mine. Too bad.

* * *

_Inspired by the ending of Driftwood, set in the hypothetical future. M/M._

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MOSQUITO NET

Merlin rolled over, struck out a finger and zapped a fly dead in the air. It buzzed and fell under the net.

'Wouldn't it be easier to cast a spell over the whole room?' Morgana grumbled. The room they had rented was even hotter than the one in Bangladesh, but he had insisted on traveling on the outskirts of the country, off the trodden track.

'Too tired,' he murmured, letting his hand drop on the small of her back, grazing the skin at the base of her spine. '-Sides, what would be the fun in that?'

Morgana opened her eyes, not to miss a chance to see his eyes glow gold in the dark.

Zap.

Zap.

Zap.


	2. Three Times Per Day

_Dads will be Dads. Even the foster ones. M/M, same AU as the first one._

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THREE TIMES PER DAY (KEEPS UTHER AWAY)

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Uther refolded the newspaper, finally giving up trying to read, and reached for his phone. Slowly, carefully, he dialed the foreign number.

_'Two.'_

'You don't have to actually count the times I'm calling.'

_'Three times per day, every single day so far.'_

'And you agreed to it, Morgana. It was part of our deal, why I let you go at all… we can't risk another relapse, not with you so far from-'

_'I'm fine. Really. Stop worrying__.'_

Chewing sounds. He must have interrupted their dinner. He was not getting any better at counting the time zones.

'Is Merlin there with you?'

_'Yeah, eating something I warned him about.'_

A grumble in the background signified a protest.

'Tell him to keep his eye on you at all times.'

_'Oh, I think he already does…' _He heard a snort, then giggling.

Uther was sharp enough to pick up on the innuendo. He shifted in his chair, uncomfortable. Not that he didn't trust that bloke. And Morgana was a smart, attractive young woman in her twenties… Something would probably happen between them during this trip, and he desperately tried not to think about the risks that it involved if…

'Good. But take care, and don't come back with a protruding belly.'

_'I-… What!?'_

'Enjoy your meal.'

Uther chuckled as he hung up the phone.


	3. Upper Hand

_Teasing, toothache-inducingly sweet. M/M, continued._

* * *

UPPER HAND

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'What was that all about?'

Merlin had returned to the ill-advised soup that had pieces in it even his magic could not identify. Morgana seemed out of balance and… _flushed? ... _after that phone call.

'Oh. Nothing. Just Uther worrying you will get me knocked up, is all.'

Some of the spicy soup came out of his nose. That hurt._ Morgana might be a seer after all._

Holding his nose in a table napkin, he tried to regain enough composure to say without crying that it was quite rude to smirk at someone in pain.

'Aww, I forgot. Old habits.' She quipped back.

The smirk didn't die yet and Merlin had the urge to tackle her right at this table. Later, in their room, after she had nursed him to back to health, they would continue their struggle, which Morgana was regrettably still winning.

'_Admit it_. _Admit it to me_.'

She urged on, pressing harder into his abdomen with a tight grip around his arms.

Merlin huffed with defeat.

'Morgana Le Fay, you were right about the spice.'

Morgana kissed him as a reward. Losing had never been so easy.


	4. Dates

_So it began. At the airport. M/M set after _Driftwood_._

* * *

DATES

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Merlin had unzipped their suitcase to investigate what exactly was taking the extra room in the luggage that the camera would not fit anymore.

'A hat, you packed a woollen hat?'

This was ridiculous.

'I'm _only_ -'

'AND mittens? To India?'

'We bought them together, on our first date. It's a sentiment.'

'This isn't even-..Was that a date?'

'I saw you fancied me, you took me out. And later, we snuggled. I'd call that a date.'

'Yea, but_ I_ did not know about _us_ yet. I was just being...'

'You were cute back then. Bit awkward. Less bossy.'

'Wait a second...'

'Excuse me, sir, I see you have important matters to discuss, but people waiting behind you would appreciate to keep the line moving.'

'Yes, of course, sorry. We leave the camera.'

'What?'

Merlin grinned.

'It's replaceable.'


	5. The Light of Avalon

_On the roof of the world, they ascend. M/M, AU continued._

* * *

THE LIGHT OF AVALON

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In Nepal there was a temple.

While wandering aimlessly on the fringes of Kathmandu, Merlin and Morgana felt pulled to a particular place, resonating with a frequency similar to their own. The air was thick and filled with incense, myrrh and sandal, potent yet evasive - the foreign magic beckoned them forward in a way that was familiar, ancient and immediate all at once.

He was hesitant at first, but Morgana had taken his hand and led them closer to the holy man. The crowds parted at their passing, spellbound unlike with any white people, and bowed at their presence.

While strange to behold, the old man in saffron robes looked nothing like intimidating. The sadhu, eyes dark and kind, face caked with red and ochre, smiled and reached out his hand to touch them.

The paint above his brow simmered - a drop of gold to match hers. (Morgana gasped.)

With opened eyes, Merlin saw nothing and experienced everything - countless emotions, their past and future - blended together into one cohesive whole. It felt as if they weren't lodged in the present, but floated above, experiencing it all in one prolonged moment.

At his blessing, their senses returned, made aware by the cool brush of reality where their fingers entwined, while the vision faded. The memory did not.


	6. To Come Unbound

_Nothing leaves you unchanged. M/M, AU continued._

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TO COME UNBOUND (TO LONG TO BE FOUND)

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After the mystic, they kept tripping, for a while.

And in more than one night had Morgana woken to Merlin hovering from the bed, eyes strangely distant and mind adrift. Fear and awe and the sense of awareness anchored her body like it failed to do with his.

She smoothed his brow and floated with him. The room was still and peaceful. Morgana watched the images pass by, their troubled past, and longed for creation, the moment of present.

'Come back to me,' she'd whisper into the night at his ear, palm warm against his, and waited.

Slowly, so slowly, his irises returned to familiar blue.

His lips curled, as he awoke on the mattress.

'I'm here. I'm right here.'


	7. Soldiers and Cons

_In 1930s, kids grow up fast. M/M, __hypothetical past AU._

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SOLDIERS AND CONS

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_On their flight back to Heathrow, Morgana had a dream._

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They play shop in her father's back yard as radios spell crisis in the shadow of the war. The neighborhood children gather at the hill, while their parents build bomb shelters. There kids join their forces, trinkets and toys. Each has their own, but never enough.

Morgana trades apples for kisses. One boy keeps buying the ones from everyone else.

He points at the heap to collect his reward.

'You have no sense of business.' The five-year-old remarks wisely. (Her father sells plywood.)

Merlin does not care. She keeps on paying, long after the apples are gone.

.

The boy ignores her advice. The boy goes to war. For the first time in her life Morgana hates being a woman. Hates waiting for news.

Gets rid of the radio.

.

Two years later, the man is in her yard again, all uniforms and ties and a basketful of reds.

She observes his tamed black hair, his vivid blue eyes, and frowns.

'The price went up while you were gone. _Inflation_.'

His smile falters, just a flicker, just a little bit.

'That's alright. I want the whole business.'


	8. The Act

_In 1940s, kids have grown up. M/M, hypothetical past AU continued._

* * *

THE ACT

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Morgana feels the most accomplished on the day she struts down the aisle in her pristine white dress.

The role 'housewife' never falls easy on her. But as their '_Hi honey_' routine dissolves into a hot and bothered make-out sessions, Morgana reckons she might as well make it work. In truth, there is nothing proper about the things she plans for him on the kitchen counter, but this is _her husband_ and this is _their_ _home_.

It gives her something to occupy her mind with. While other women fix shirts and prepare dinners, she irons her dresses and pins up delicate bobs, knowing full well he will not be able to help himself and run his hands through it all, rumple up her skirts in sweaty palms on her thighs, and later - recovering - apologizes for it. (Holds her like porcelain. Breathes in her neck. Completely still for a while.)

They break their marital routine, over and over, and she forgets the desperation within_._

It's as though they both know it will be short-lived, somehow. That in a few years they will take a wrong train, that in a matter of years their dollhouse will collapse.

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_Morgana woke up on the plane. The windows were darkened and Merlin was quietly asleep beside her, earbuds fallen out, the iPod still on. _

_It was fine, she reassured herself. They both flew on._


	9. Flair for Drama

_The tragedy - they meet again. M/M, another AU._

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FLAIR FOR DRAMA

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Merlin sits in the library across the table and she knows it's him. Just as she knows it is Arthur who shouts on the football field, the fresh captain of the team. He knows it's her, too, and it makes him wonder what Morgana is doing in Oxford, reading Shakespeare.

'_Hamlet_,' she smiles and explains what drew her to her favorite play. 'Something about the retribution.'

Slowly distancing, his guard is back up, and she smirks, closing the book.

'Plus, it takes an English major to decipher all the sexual innuendo.'

The cover is pleasantly smooth, and they both stare at her hands on the title.

'So which one is it?' He presses, eyes no longer on the book. 'Vengeance or the innuendo?'

Morgana smiles, appreciating his dark form, those wide eyes and questions within. (A girl can have her fun.)

'I'd take a bit of both.'


End file.
